Inside the life of Bryony Frost - and why she left UK after filming new ITV show (2024)

WATCH episode one of Champions: Full Gallop and it's clear that Bryony Frost is a major name in racing.

But you won't find her on any racecards in Britain these days.

The trailblazing female jockey - who owned the red carpet at the premiere of the new show - packed up her bags and left our shores not long after filming finished.

It had been a testing few years for 29-year-old Frost, whose amazing relationship with Frodon is one of the highlights of the first of the six-part mini-series being aired on ITV1.

She was at the centre of an awful bullying row with fellow jockey Robbie Dunne and suffered a brutal back injury at the Grand National meeting.

She also went through a break up with fellow high profile jockey Patrick Mullins, son of legendary Irish handler Willie.

Better news came in the shape of a Grade 2 win aboard the Paul Nicholls-trained Knappers Hill at Sandown in April 2023.

But amid a drying up of rides, she had to wait another year to get her next top level success - a devastating victory aboard Sans Bruit in the Red Rum Chase at this year's Aintree Festival.

Victory was worth more than £50,000 but her mind was already made up.

Frost, after years of success here and more than £2million in prize money winnings, was off to France.

And that's where she is a jockey now, enjoying a good relationship riding for top owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede of 'team Double Green' fame.

She is their retained jockey, meaning she is first-choice rider for all their biggest and best horses.

Speaking of her move and link up, Frost said: "I have long admired Team Double Green and the success that they have had in England, Ireland and France.

"I am really excited to join them, the opportunity to be retained by them to ride their horses is the dream start to my career in France."

As well as racing for better money, a move to across the Channel was probably a bit of a reset for Frost.

Her dad Jimmy won the Grand National in 1989 on Little Polveir and she is very close with her parents, who are based in Buckfastleigh, Devon.

A new opportunity abroad was a chance to grow as a person and get a taste of riding on the continent.

With Cheltenham Festival wins to her name and a newer, bigger public profile from this ITV documentary, it may not be long until she's once again picking up the huge rides she deserves.

Champions: Full Gallop airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Friday. Episodes two and three will be available to livestream on ITVX immediately afterwards.

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